KIRKUS REVIEW

Ruby has no idea what she’s in for
when she meets Devon—but she knows that no matter how dangerous he might be,
she can’t help being irresistibly attracted to him.

“Dark” and “weird” are the first
words that most people would use to describe Ruby Rain. At 21, she’s the local
high school’s youngest English teacher. She has a sleep phase disorder that
doesn’t allow her to rest at night, and she enjoys frequenting the same “dark
and grungy” bar every night. Her mother was committed to an asylum when Ruby
was just a girl, and Ruby herself spent time in Coffeen Sanitarium after her
mother’s death. So when she meets the tall, dark, mysterious, and handsome
Devon Slaughter late one night, she’s certainly prepared for something out of
the ordinary…but perhaps not as out of the ordinary as Devon. He’s undead, but
he’s not a vampire; in fact, he’s not sure what he is. All he knows is that
there’s something about Ruby that attracts him. Ruby, meanwhile, is becoming
less and less sure that Devon is real and is questioning her own sanity while
fighting her way through petty jealousies at school. Bell’s debut thriller
oozes gothic romance, but it often struggles to capture the right tone. It’s
hard to tell if Devon’s dialogue is intentionally campy; e.g., “Her already
wide eyes grew wider. Any second now, she would notice I was sexy.” It’s also
difficult to tell whether this is an adult or a YA novel; Ruby has three
degrees and a teaching job, but her world feels more like the teenage version
of high school, as her colleagues say things like, “What’s with the Kool-Aid
dye job?” and “It’s not my fault you’re a troglodyte.” Still, Bell’s prose is
lush and atmospheric.

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